Europa League results and table after matchday one: Juventus top of the thirty-six
Eighteen games in two days. Juventus lead the single table after a 5-0 against NEC Nijmegen, Bournemouth win the first European game in their history, Milan and Marseille start on zero. Every result with the scorers, how the new format works, and how our calls went: fifteen from eighteen.
The opening round of the new Europa League closed on Thursday night. Thirty-six teams, one table, eight games each: and after ninety minutes the leaders are Juventus, 5-0 winners over NEC Nijmegen and the only side with a five-goal cushion.
Below are all eighteen games with the scorers split by side, and next to each one how our call went, the three wrong ones included.
How the single table works
The thirty-six teams play eight games each against eight different opponents. The top eight go straight to the last 16, ninth to twenty-fourth go through the February play-offs, and twenty-fifth to thirty-sixth are out of Europe altogether: there is no drop into the Conference League any more.
Matchday two is not next week: it is Thursday 15 October, after the international break. The final is on 26 May 2027 in Frankfurt.
The top after one round
Juventus lead on goal difference, then Crystal Palace (4-0 against Lech Poznan) and Sparta Prague (4-1 against Ararat-Armenia). Below them sit eighteen teams on three points, separated only by goal difference: after ninety minutes the table says little, and one goal is the whole distance between the play-off zone and automatic qualification.
At the bottom, last of all, are NEC Nijmegen, the only side on -5.
The two stories of the round
Bournemouth played the first European game in their history and won it: 2-1 in San Sebastián against Real Sociedad, Kluivert on 11 minutes and Rayan on 20. Eighteen years ago the club were in the fourth tier with a seventeen-point deduction.
Torreense, who play in the Portuguese second division, won 2-1 in Norway on their first European appearance ever. They got there by winning the Portuguese Cup on 24 May, 2-1 against Sporting after extra time: the club's first trophy, and the first time a second-division side has won it.
Crystal Palace were also playing their first Europa League game, as Conference League holders: 4-0 against the Polish champions Lech Poznan.
Who already has a problem
AC Milan lost 0-2 at home to Benfica to whistles at San Siro, and sit on zero points with the worst goal difference of the Italian clubs.
Marseille shipped four in Istanbul to Vincenzo Italiano's Beşiktaş, who have won six of their first seven European games: only Bernd Schuster had done that at the club before. Genesio admitted his side collapsed after the second goal and that these are not the best days of his career. PSG visit the Vélodrome on Sunday.
Celtic lost 1-3 at home to Ferencváros to whistles, a second straight defeat: the Rangers derby comes again on Sunday.
Every result, day by day
Wednesday 16 September
Ararat-Armenia 1-4 Sparta Prague — Ararat-Armenia: Bruno Wilson 55'. Sparta Prague: Tobias Kvalvagnes Guddal 20', 22', John Mercado 53', Patrik Vydra 71'. Here our call was under 4.5 goals, confidence 7 out of 10: wrong.
Omonia 1-0 Celta Vigo — Omonia: Jure Balkovec 88'. Here our call was under 4.5 goals, confidence 7 out of 10: correct.
AC Milan 0-2 Benfica — Benfica: Dodi Lukebakio 16', Jakub Kamiński 53'. Here our call was over 1.5 goals, confidence 6 out of 10: correct.
Bayer Leverkusen 2-0 Celje — Bayer Leverkusen: Svit Sešlar 15' (o.g.), Facundo Medina 74'. Here our call was a home win with at least two goals, confidence 8 out of 10: correct.
H. Beer Sheva 0-0 Dinamo Zagreb — No goals. Here our call was over 1.5 goals, confidence 7 out of 10: wrong.
Olympiakos 2-1 Jagiellonia — Olympiakos: Armando González 43', Roman Yaremchuk 84'. Jagiellonia: Kajetan Szmyt 20'. Here our call was under 4.5 goals, confidence 7 out of 10: correct.
Anderlecht 1-2 Lyon — Anderlecht: Mihajlo Cvetković 61'. Lyon: Noah Nartey 8', Keito Nakamura 22'. Here our call was under 4.5 goals, confidence 7 out of 10: correct.
Sturm Graz 0-0 Rennes — No goals. Here our call was under 4.5 goals, confidence 6 out of 10: correct.
Sunderland 1-0 AZ Alkmaar — Sunderland: Enzo Le Fée 66' (pen.). Here our call was under 4.5 goals, confidence 7 out of 10: correct.
Thursday 17 September
Levski Sofia 0-1 Salzburg — Salzburg: Haris Tabaković 39'. Here our call was under 4.5 goals, confidence 7 out of 10: correct.
OFI Crete 2-0 Hoffenheim — OFI Crete: Aitor Cantalapiedra 30', Georgios Kanellopoulos 84'. Here our call was over 1.5 goals, confidence 7 out of 10: correct.
Beşiktaş 4-1 Marseille — Beşiktaş: İlhan Fakılı 15', Václav Černý 56', Amir Murillo 59', Ernest Poku 81'. Marseille: Keyliane Abdallah 29'. Here our call was under 4.5 goals, confidence 6 out of 10: wrong.
Celtic 1-3 Ferencváros — Celtic: Mika Baur 44'. Ferencváros: Yusuf Bamidele 20', Kristoffer Zachariassen 45+1', Daniel Arzani 47'. Here our call was over 1.5 goals, confidence 6 out of 10: correct.
Crystal Palace 4-0 Lech Poznań — Crystal Palace: Yéremy Pino 10', Chris Richards 27', Jørgen Strand Larsen 34' (pen.), Eddie Nketiah 89'. Here our call was under 4.5 goals, confidence 6 out of 10: correct.
Viktoria Plzeň 0-3 Union Saint-Gilloise — Union Saint-Gilloise: Relebohile Mofokeng 17', Mateo Biondic 43', Ondrej Kricfalusi 59'. Here our call was over 1.5 goals, confidence 6 out of 10: correct.
Juventus 5-0 NEC Nijmegen — Juventus: Nicolás González 9', Kerim Alajbegović 24', Nick Woltemade 35' (pen.), Zeki Çelik 75', Randal Kolo Muani 82'. Here our call was over 1.5 goals, confidence 6 out of 10: correct.
Lillestrøm 1-2 Torreense — Lillestrøm: Thomas Lehne Olsen 79'. Torreense: Alejandro Alfaro 23', Manuel Pozo Guerrero 49'. Here our call was under 4.5 goals, confidence 7 out of 10: correct.
Real Sociedad 1-2 Bournemouth — Real Sociedad: Sergio Gómez 57'. Bournemouth: Justin Kluivert 11', Rayan 20'. Here our call was under 4.5 goals, confidence 7 out of 10: correct.
Our tally: 15 out of 18
Across the eighteen games our calls came in 15 times: seven from nine on Wednesday, eight from nine on Thursday. The three misses are Ararat-Armenia against Sparta Prague, Hapoel Be'er Sheva against Dinamo Zagreb and Beşiktaş against Marseille — the very game whose collapse we describe above. We read it wrong and we say so in the same piece.
Every call carries a confidence from 1 to 10: our measure of how solid the picture looked before kick-off, not a promise.
Every game with our calls is on the Europa League page and on the Serie A page. The record of settled calls is in the results history, and the individual ones are in player predictions.
